


false awakening

by saraheli



Category: Winner (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-29
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-05-15 15:37:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14793246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saraheli/pseuds/saraheli
Summary: Who knew that the one meant for you was living in a world so far above and beyond your own? When you share dreams with your soulmate, as you fall deeper, it becomes harder to distinguish reality from the second world you’d explored with Minho.





	false awakening

**Author's Note:**

> tw: inability to distinguish dream and reality, dissociation

“Good morning,” your roommate laughed, tossing your buzzing cell at you. “Your alarm means you’re supposed to get up and turn it off, you know.”

“What the hell?” You groaned, wincing when the phone landed with a smack in the center of your chest.

“I would just prefer not to listen to it for thirty minutes every day, that’s all,” she grinned. “I’ve got to go to class, but let’s get lunch, okay?” She slung on her backpack and gave you a flick of her fingers before leaving.

You plunged your head back into your pillow with another low sigh. The sky was a rosy yellow with the barely-finished sunrise, and the color made you wonder if your alarm was broken. You never woke up so early even during the week. The clouds looked like candy floss and sun like a lemon drop; you wondered if the world always looked like sugar this early. Just below your window stood Minho, his eyes squinted up at you.

“Are you coming down?” He called up to you, his hand coming up to shield his eyes from the light. He grinned at the confusion evident on your face, “Good morning.”

You almost didn’t recognize him. He was thinner now than he had been before, but his face was eager and bright. His hair was twisted in little rows that shone their pink hue in the light. He was glowing, and the very sight of him put you in a dream-like haze. Your heart leaped when you heard his voice, but there was something else anchoring in spite of your glee.

“What are you doing here?” You beamed; you couldn’t remember the last time you’d seen Minho.

He came so infrequently now that you wondered if you’d ever see him again. He always looked like that though: happy and bright, but like he’d never slept. He was a stunning gold in the sunrise, and, though you’d no idea what compelled you to do so, you nodded eagerly and slunk away to get dressed.

When you joined him down on the lawn, he embraced you, and you were engrossed in his scent: cloves and honey and tenderness. You wanted to drown in him.

“I picked a place.”

“Pardon?” You looked up at him, “For what?”

“Remember last time?” He chuckled, his grip firmly gliding down to your hips, “You asked me to take you dancing the next time we see each other.”

You tilted your head to the side, “Oh. Don’t you think it’s a bit early for that?”

His lips parted in a grin once again, “Oh hush, you know that’s not how it works here.”

You let out a short laugh, nodding. You felt your stomach settle with confirmation as if you knew he was right, but you didn’t. You didn’t know why people would go dancing at sunrise or why he looked so exhausted or even why your alarm had gone off so long before it was set, but you weren’t sure you even minded the not knowing. You felt whole, complete.

You followed him through the grass, letting your fingers wrap absently through his, and you wondered how you got here. You hadn’t lived in this area for months, and you were sure it had been more urban than this—where were the shops? There was surely a—

“I’m sorry I’ve been gone for so long,” Minho peered down at you, his hair pinned away from his eyes. “I…I haven’t been sleeping much. Everything’s been so wild, and, well, they’ll be settling down soon. Maybe I’ll be able to come back more.”

“You work too much,” you shook your head. The words came out of your mouth almost mindlessly, but it felt like you’d said them so many times before.

The place he took you to dance wasn’t what you’d expected, but it was somewhere familiar. It was a long patio littered with fairy lights and tables of food you couldn’t quite depict. There were other couples dancing, too, and the sky was almost obscured from your vision by a canopy of leaves that overcast it.

“Have we been here before?”

“Not recently,” Minho replied, placing a guiding hand on the small of your back. “But yes.”

Maybe it was the smell or the light or the warmth of his palm on your hip, but something about the atmosphere made you feel heavier with longing to stay forever. You knew Minho, though you knew too that you had never met. You knew he was yours and felt with every patch of your skin and ounce of yourself that you were his, too.

“Now, stop thinking so much, we don’t have much time,” he pulled you to him, letting his lips brush your temple. Your heart fluttered.

A stream of memories flowed to the back of your eyelids; you could see Minho’s smiling face in endless places, hear his laughter overlaid on thousands of foundations. A lifetime of sweet days. A lifetime of companionship. A lifetime.

“What are you thinking about?” He craned his neck to meet your eyes, swaying you to the lullaby of a song that hummed on the wind. “You should be paying attention to me.” He pouted his lip down at you before spinning you gently so that your back pressed to his chest.

“I just…”

“You saw it all again, huh?”

You licked your lips slowly before nodding slowly. “Does that happen to me a lot?”

He chuckled, “Almost every time now.” He cleared his throat, “I think…I think it’s because we’re apart for so long now.” You didn’t know what he meant, and he seemed to know that as he continued, “We don’t sleep at the same time much anymore and…well, even if we could…I don’t think it’s enough anymore. I think you’re losing me.”

Sleep.

Your mind hung on that word, carding through all of the possible things he could mean. Unity. Time zone. Dreaming.

You’re dreaming.

“Oh—”

“You didn’t notice, did you?” He pressed his nose to your hair, breathing you in. He wondered if something about the dream world made you smell this way, or if you were this intoxicating in the real world, too.

“But everything seems so normal,” you furrowed your eyebrows, clinging to his hand with urgency. “I-I can’t leave you again. Where will you be?”

“Tokyo today,” he told you. “I’ll be busy…I’m surprised we’re asleep at the same time, frankly.” He kissed your ear and nodded forward, “Look.”

“I…” you looked out onto the horizon, the world fading away into the shadow of your eyelids as you began to wake up. “I’m sorry I didn’t notice.” Minho shook his head, but his smile only disappointed you further, “When will I…when will we see each other again?”

He shrugged, looking out over the crumbling expanse of the fake world you had kept for a day. “I don’t know. But, I’m glad you didn’t notice,” he brushed the hair from your eyes. “You just enjoyed it while you could. That’s the way you’re meant to do it.” He paused, a smile quirking up his lips at the corners,  “Good morning, by the way.”


End file.
